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Consequent to the dialogue with the World Bank by the Government of India for possible support of its National e-Governance Plan (NEGP) followed by the identification mission, the World Bank has approved the project concept to proceed further to support NEGP projects and agreed in principle to finance $500 million over the next four years. This will have a potential for follow-up with additional financing provided the need, absorptive capacity and rapid disbursement of initial financing, depending upon the need. A final decision of Bank support, including amount of financing and other modalities is expected to be forth coming within the next 9-12 months, subject to adequate preparation by the Government.
This announcement came at the concluding session of the National e-Governance Plan (NEGP) Workshop with State and Union Territories, held here on 11th and 12th March, 2005. The two-day conference, organised jointly by the Department of Information Technology (DIT) and Planning Commission, was attended by Finance & IT Secretaries and senior officials of 25 States and Union Territories. The workshop coincided with the visit of the World Bank Preparatory Mission which is currently in India to discuss with the Government of India, the objectives, scope, design and implementation arrangements of the project.
NEGP in the present form consists of 10 functional components and 25 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) to be completed in a timeframe of 4 years. An Apex committee under the Cabinet Secretary is already in place for providing the strategic direction and management oversight. A formal structure to support the Apex committee is currently under formulation. With a view to accelerate implementation of the NEGP , the government has already set aside budgetary resources in the current fiscal year to be provided to states as Additional Central Assistance to support capacity building so that areas as business process re-engineering , financial viability and change management are given required thrust.
With basic aim to accelerate the pace of government reform, the NEGP programme provides for service and citizen orientation by ensuring fast, convenient, accessible and reliable services. The objectives of the workshop was to discuss the broad outlines of the proposed NEGP including the components of NEGP and the selection of mission mode projects at state level as well as the proposed strategies; to elicit views of the state governments with respect to their interest in participating in the programme both in terms of financial and technical and their interest in accessing World Bank funding; and to arrive at broad cost estimates of funding requirements so that these can be discussed with potential multilateral funding agencies including World Bank.
The focus of NEGP towards empowerment of rural citizens, improved government effectiveness, promotion of private sector growth and potential for dramatic scaling up the Bank’s impact in India to help improve the quality of life of all citizens was instrumental in bringing a strong alignment between NEGP and the Bank’s Country Assistance Strategy for India.
Broad consensus was reached with regard to the basic approach after the workshop deliberated and discussed on the guidelines and support for capacity building. Many states suggested the inclusion of some more social sector projects in the list of Mission Mode Projects. The capacity building envisages combining government and external competencies in the most optimal manner to achieve rapid, professionally managed and sustained implementation. The Department of Information Technology (IT) will issue the guidelines to this effect in the next week.
RM/AMA – 130305 E-governance & World Bank
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